MISSION 2026: Spread the Word!

WARNING: This Article Contains Uncomfortable truths. Read at Your Own Risk.                          

If you ask AI whether or not playing the piano is better for mental health than a plethora of other recreational activities or hobbies, it wins hands down. For children, organized athletics provide some valuable social and teamwork skills, exposure and learning, but for cognitive stimulation, self esteem, emotional expression and stress relief, music has no rival. This is NOT an opinion; scores of scientific and medical studies verify this statement. Playing is just plain good for you. Do we remember to reinforce or expose that fact to everyone we can? Certainly everyone considering a purchase of a piano vs. all the other luxury and recreational options out there need to know what their best choice would be, agreed?

Throughout history there have been evangelicals of many different flavors: Christianity, a host of other religious persuasions, capitalism, socialism and other “isms.” I believe we should promote pianoism! Yes, I jest with the name, but not the mission. More people playing and getting in touch with their authentic selves would be the greatest medicine applicable to the mental health crisis of the day. All we have to do is appeal to peoples' happiness and survival instincts to unlock the topic. Look at Covid; wasn’t the boom in the interest in the piano proof positive that people instinctively know that music is a lifeline? I pose this problem knowing the solution is obvious. Given the audience present, I pose this problem rhetorically: Knowing something and remembering to promote a valuable truth are two different things. Have we committed (lets be honest with ourselves) the topic to the fabric of your every interaction?

Oh but, that’s TOO BIG of a job, selling the benefit of playing to the world. The manufacturers should promote the benefits while they brand nationally, right? Sorry for this dose of reality but your beard, if you can grow one, will grow longer than Rip Van Winkle’s waiting on the piano builders to invest in getting Harry Connick Jr. to show up in a national campaign promoting the advantages of playing the piano at “back to school” time, or Alicia Keys at Christmas promoting the gift of music instead of a worn out sales theme. Do you believe they will spend the money themselves to promote the wellbeing of the world through the use of their product? That day could come, but don’t hold your breath. So like you said, ”That job is too big for us! We don’t have the funds or the manpower.” Don’t give me that; a handful of men from various occupations who followed a carpenter with a life changing message, in essence, changed the world. It’s about passion and messaging, not resources. We can be an enemy to the global mental health crisis by starting to spread the news in our own back yard.

Let’s take this a step further and examine our sales process with this message in mind. Mind you, it's not about the volume level or intensity with which you tell your story, it's about the faith you have in its value and the authenticity of your delivery. If you believe it, many of the people you share it with will too and it can be the reality that helps them decide to have more music in their lives, and be more centered and happy than any of the other things on which they could spend their money (that could never change their lives in such a positive manner).

Let’s talk about the logistics: Yes, money is tight and an issue for a large population of piano buyers, BUT their priorities might shift if they understood how healing the properties of music are when applied to their day-to-day” lives. See what we’re selling? What the instrument can do for you, not the actual piano… that is an important detail, but the engagement is about what a piano can do for them and how they will use it, not the specs. We handle the specs as needed and piano specialists already do a darn good job with product knowledge. This is about getting into their minds and emotions, as all good evangelists do. People in the luxury marketing space still “buy on emotion and back it up with logic.”    

The logistics start with exposing as many people on the planet as possible to the most revered instrument in history, the handmade piano. I submit that if they are a player at any significant level, you commit a travesty by not exposing them to the holy grail of piano playing. The premise, if they have come in shielded with a cost constraint and are right up front with it? “Mr./Mrs. Jones, I know that this is out of your price range, but if I could encourage you to sit down and play the “best of the best” it will help us find something as close to this as possible in your price range to consider.” I won’t go into overcoming the objections and when to mention the 100% trade in value etc.; the main muscle memory to develop (if you don’t already have it) is to sit them down at a fine piano. They need to know the value, not only to the owners of them, but also what a gift to the world  these magnificent pianos are and why your love for them is so deep. Are you uncomfortable getting that personal with a customer? To share your inner most passion for your love of the instrument? Then don’t blame them if they buy from someone else, who is. 

Face it. You are an evangelist of what you sell. If you aren’t excited about it, why should they be? The unvarnished is that if we had more people engaged in music, the world would be a better place, and pianos are sold one at a time so we have a daily commitment to inspire as many people as possible to make the choice to do the best possible thing they can do for themselves and ultimately society as a whole.

There are many ways to spread the word:

*In your conversations. 

*On your sign off for your emails… and I’ve seen some good ones. Off the top of my head: “Every Life Needs Music” comes to mind. 

Bose uses this in its branding. 

*A social media post of the benefits of playing should make a regular cycle for all companies, and additionally their sales associates, as they interact with the public.

*Articles written and deployed (instead of a monthly sale announcement) should be regular occurrence

*Testimonials from past buyers, churches, schools, patrons and arts organizations highlighting how important music is to their students should be posted in everyone’s website; not only for visitors to see, but also for the sales individuals to use as links while building trust with prospects.

*Sales associates should go out into the community with the good news of how music is helping people have a better life. We are evangelists and educators; we have a torch to carry. 

Allow me to use my own family as a testament to the power of music as being therapeutic: Fourteen years ago (at the time of this writing), my daughter Lauren gave us a grandson, and the world a gift: Matthew, who was born without sight. We have seen how important and healthy music has been for him. That is a story for another day, but suffice it to say he LOVES to write, play and perform. He is in his natural element when he performs and has a sense of humor to boot. Go to your nearest school for the blind and ask the music and choral teachers what music does for the unsighted. I promise it will open your eyes… and not the ones with pupils.

Look up your local Wounded Warriors chapter and ask about the vets who end up being more productive, happier, and well-balanced because they have an instrument with which to express themselves. 

If you sell pianos and are not as proud as you should be to be placing more music in people's lives then you aren’t understanding, in full, the gift you are giving. If you look at yourself as someone simply going to work in a retail environment and don’t take what you do as a contribution to society, it’s too much of a "job" and not enough of a "mission". The world actually needs what we provide and now it has the ability to marry tradition with all types of technology. When technology is paired with tradition, it is at its finest and we can offer up the best of both worlds! Who else can say that?

In summary, music is good medicine. The Native Americans revered its healing and spiritual power. Our society would do well to place it high on the "totem pole" of its culture as well. We once did, when we were only a couple generations away from being immigrants there were pianos in most every home. One could argue successfully that we were more stable and well, mentally, when the nation had more family members gathering around the table, piano, and fireplace to play and sing. Here is the message: play more and be happier and healthier! Science and history support the value of more music in our lives. Let’s get the word out so that there are fewer songs that never get played. All of life just makes more sense with it at the center. Some of the greatest thinkers in the world agree that it helps place life in better focus and context. I’ll end with a quote by a person conventionally agreed to be a pretty smart person:  

"It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.” -  Albert Einstein